Continued urban containment policies in Canada could lead to severe consequences such as lowering middle-income standards of living and greater poverty with less job creation and less economic growth

Urban Containment, a Question of Values (CNW Group/Frontier Centre for Public Policy)

CALGARY, Oct. 28, 2015 /CNW/ - Frontier Centre for Public Policy has released Wendell Cox's exploration of the consequences of urban containment in his paper "A Question of Values: Middle Income Housing Affordability and Urban Containment Policy".

Urban containment can be defined as policies that aim to limit sprawl by restricting development outside of a designated zone. In this paper, Mr. Cox suggests that unintended consequences of these limiting policies may include reduced economic growth and huge increases in house prices relative to income. Cox raises the possibility of land shortages due to landowners buying large tracts of any available land for future gain.

Mr. Cox suggests that the urban sprawl/urban containment debate is at its' roots, "fundamentally a question of values" and that housing, less poverty, and a better standard of living should take precedence. He concludes that urban containment policy appears to be irreconcilable with housing affordability.

Wendell Cox serves as Chair of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy's Housing Affordability and Municipal Policy program and as the Principal of Demographia, an international consultancy that specializes in regional and municipal housing policy and related planning issues. He is a former member of the Los Angeles Transportation Commission and Amtrak Reform Council. Cox is described as a leading global authority on housing affordability and municipal policy and is consulted extensively on urban planning and transportation issues.